ARE THE FOREIGN CITIZENS ENTITLED TO PURCHASE REAL ESTATES IN CROATIA?

From February, 01. 2009 the citizens of all EU Member States, as natural persons, can purchase  property as well as Croatian citizens.. The properties that can not be purchased by natural personsare agricultural land plots and forests. The citizens of other countries, outside the EU,  they can buy properties with the approval of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The approval can be obtained  by the citizens of those countries with which Croatia has signed an agreement on reciprocity.

The procedure is as follows:

When a foreign citizen decides to purchase a real estate, they conclude a sales contract with the seller, which at that time need not be certified by a notary public, and, along with a prescribed documentation, it is submitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Zagreb. Once approval is given, then they can perform the registration of title on their behalf and pay the property transfer tax.

Foreign citizens that found, or already have a founded company in Croatia, can purchase properties as a company ownership without any restrictions. The citizens of all countries can establish a company in Croatia.

HOW TO FOUND A COMPANY IN CROATIA?

In addition to buying the property as a natural person, foreign citizens can establish a company  in Croatia, and gain ownership of the property as a Croatian company. In this case, it is not necessary to wait for approval from the Ministry of Justice, because the buyer with foreign citizenship as the founder and owner of Croatian company  has the equal rights as Croatian legal entities.

A certain percentage of foreign citizens decides for this step, therefore to our foreign clients we  offer a sevice of founding a company in Croatia. the founding of the company lasts from1 to 2 weeks. If you are physically present in Croatia, we can accompany and assist you through every  step. If you are not here,that is not a problem,we will send the Powers of Attorney foryou to certify  them in your country and we perform all for you. The costs of founding the company in total amount  to approx. 4.000 euro, including the taxes, public notary fees, government offices fees, initial capital in  the amount of 20.000 Kuna and other bank expences.

If you too want to found acompany in Croatia,we offer a fast and efficient service of founding a company on your behalf.

Previously, it is necessary to do the following:

1. To choose the company name

- When choosing the name you have to bear in mind that the name has to be a Croatian, Latin or Greek  word

- the name of the company can also be your first name, middle name or last name

- the name must be unique in the region, and approved by the notary public, therefore we suggest that  you prepare at least three options

2. To verify a copy of your passport

3. To verify the Powers of Attorney with the notary public apostille

WHAT IS THE AMOUNT OF THE PROPERTY TRANSFER TAX IN CROATIA?

Republic of Croatia has an uniform tax rate of 5% for all types of property and all types of transactions. The amount  of the tax is determined based on the price from the Sales Contract and the estimate of the authorized tax office, on  which territory the property is located. According to the law the property transfer tax is paid by the buyer.

In the case of selling the newly built property, if the seller is a Croatian company, the tax is approx. 1.5%

WHAT IS THE AMOUNT OF BROKERAGE COMMISSION?

Real Estate Broker's Commission: 2% to 4% of the purchase price. (paid by the buyer)
Notary fees, legal fees, translators, founding of the company : approx. 1%-3% (paid by the buyer)

If someone offers you a lower price for this service, you must be careful, because it probably has a hidden agreement with the owner or agent of the owner.

WHO CAN BE YOUR BROKER?

When buying a property in Croatia, you should be particularly careful that all the activities regarding the real estate purchase are done by the certified and professional persons and companies. Otherwise you can causse a great damage to you, and no one will protect you in case of problems incurred.

Before you decide to purchase a property in Croatia you have to check the agency you are going to work with.

1/ It is particulary important that the brokers you are in contact with have all the necessary licences to perform the mediation work. You can check the legality of the agency and their agents on the website of the

Croatian Chamber of Commerce: http://hgkreg.hgk.hr/posredovanje/

Unfortunately, the website is only in Croatian language.

2/ Check the prices of the real estates, there are different prices on different websites, many agencies and agents are making a difference in price, without you knowing that.

3/ Check the office of the real estate agency, many agencies advetized on the internet don't have an office at all and are working illegaly.

4/ All the invoices have to be issued and given to you, do not accept the cash payment without the invoice. In the event of any subsequent problems with the property you do not have any evidence and have no one to protect your interests.

We guarantee our clients the lowest real estate prices. If any property turns out to be more expensive in our agency, than in any other agency, we will perform our sevices with no cost whatsoever.

We will show you that our assertions are true for the real estates advetized on our website, as well as those that are not advertized, using the actual examples.

If you find any property on the Croatian coast on some other website, send us the information, and we will check all the details regarding the property and the agency,free of charge. We will check whether the agency is legal, and if the price is without additions.